Whereas, Congress reformed public assistance in 1996 with the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program;

Whereas, included in this program were modest supplemental grants for 17 relatively poor or rapidly growing states;

Whereas, nine of the 17 qualifying states are from the South and receive 78.6% of the funding totaling $251 million;

Whereas, these grants that help southern states provide important services, such as child care, job training and placement, and transportation to low-income families; and

Whereas, authorization for these grants is set to expire at the end of the 2001 federal fiscal year; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the southern governors call upon Congress to extend for one year the TANF supplemental grants to the 17 identified states:

Resolved, that Congress should include in its 2002 TANF reauthorization bill provisions that will continue the supplemental grants for poor and fast growing states and use information from the 2000 census to identify any new states that meet the eligibility criteria; and

Resolved, that Congress should provide adequate funding if new states are identified as being eligible for the supplemental grants.